Sportriders of New England Trackday...

[hawk]

I had a good time. It was my first time taking my GSXR1000 on the track and my whole intention was to learn the bike and try to dial it in. I have to say thanks to Bill, Derek, Gerard and Jay for helping me out with dialing it in. Well Jay wasn't that much help I think it could use a little more tuning, but it sure was a lot better than it was in the mourning. It was great hanging out with you guys and thanks for the help.

[GMS1000]

Originally posted by twrayinma
let's see... some other musings from turn 2...

in general, the guys on gixxers were among the bottom of the pack, 5K1LLZ-wise. 'cept for one guy on a seven-fitty who was pretty good. there was one pair of 1Ks w/ matching stickers who had *NO* business being in red group... glad to see they were moved up to yellow by the end, but brain-fade was hitting 'em hard.

there was a guy on a yellow ninja who had *vast* improvement picking his line by the end of the day... and he was no longer braking through the corner, too.


my feet still hurt.
-t

the guy on the blue/white 750 is from New Bedford (Red). I knew he could ride a wheelie( about 6 miles), but I really didn't know he was that fast at the track. Still couldn't catch me....The other guy on the yellow ZX7 was Johnny, also from N.B... it was his first trackday, and he's still smiling from ear to ear. All together there were 9 of us from the N.B area. Some did better than others, but at least no one got hurt too bad.

oh, and as far as the rest of us gixxer riders being at the bottom of the pack 5K1LLZ wise

[Rabid1]

HEY. I stopped by there on the way home tonight and the dog didn't die, but he has a busted leg. The lady was much calmer this time...

[RevHappy]

Sweet Pic!

[Stoneman]

Mark, you were doing the right thing. I passed you a coupla times on the straights, and once between 4 & 5. Good call...

Guardrail Al: I was hearing shit about him ALL day. His behavior should have been snubbed right from the get-go. Wunna the 'management' team musta read here that I posted about timing myself and asked that I not do that. Al was admittedly being timed and trying to 'beat his personal best'. That shouldn't have happened. An FZ-1 in street trim can't overtake an experienced racer (on a race prepped F4) going INTO turn 6 and expect to hold the pass...

Steve (hawk), you're just pissed 'cuz you NEVER thought a lowly ol' Tiller could over take a 1K Gixxer ANYWHERE! Actually, you were wunna the best 'riding partners' I hooked up with out there. You'd destroy me on the straight, and make me work HARD to catch ya on the rest of the track. And you were the most responsible for getting me through 9 & 10 correctly...

Tony, no big deal with the instruction. I didn't really ask 'cuz I know how busy you guys are. Chris Bruno worked with me for a coupla laps and really helped me smooth out between 2 & 3, and get me through there the right way. I'm proud of myself to say the when he was on the 'Prilia, he couldn't get by me after he helped me smooth out my lines...

Crashes: They just shouldn't happen during a track day. One dude crashed in 3 DURING FOLLOW-THE-LEADER SESSIONS and again during the day. I see a serious problem when someone crashed during the follow-the-leader time. He shoulda been made to pack it up right there. Doug's crash, however was comical. Quite 'matter of fact'. I wasn't far behind him and Degsy was filming him. I've NEVER seen a crash look so harmless, but a crash none the less...

Dunlop 207ZR's really got to SUCKING toward the end of the day. During my last two sessions, they just got greasier and greasier. So much so that I cut my last session short by about 5 minutes. They were making me tooooo nervous in 3 and then in 11 & 12. Next time I'm getting race take-offs (READ: Slicks). BTW-My tires only had about 1000 miles on 'em to start with. As a street tire, no complaints. As a track tire, never again...

Most dissapointing part of my day? That's when the only other Tiller out there (silver & red) passed me setting up for turn 11 and pulled away. I caught him on the straight, but he just kept putting distance between us after that. That was a kick in the ass, I tell ya. Who was that guy, and does anyone know how to get in touch with him? I really wanna talk to him about some stuff he's done to his Tiller...

And finally...YES, it's true. I do believe I'm now in the market for a crashed SV. I'm SERIOUSLY considering trying to screw someone outta one that they've crashed and just have no comprehension on how easy it may be to fix. Not sure if I'll race it yet, but I WILL be taking the Penguin school and signing up for more track days. The SV WILL be a track-only bike. I'll most likely take Penguin next year when there is no pre-reg for classes. My schedule is too hectic to pre-pay in advance for something I may hafta miss...

And Tony...I wanna thank you publicly for honoring your words of last year. You said you didn't remember offering me, but you stood by it anyway. BIG kudos for that, very stand up...

[twrayinma]

tony-
i think i have a humble suggestion... perhaps a more in-depth cornerworking instruction period is in order.
sandy was clearly annoyed by some of the decisions we made in 2, but we were doing the best we could... especially w/ the oil incident. our first thoughts were "get it up as quickly as possible" and we ended up screwing it up.

and maybe a copy of the passing rules for each group. or at least, the passing rules for the corners in view.
"no inside passing" is easy to remember... but what about when someone in Red goes *way* wide to avoid a pass in a corner... or shows a wheel (or even pulls alongside) and drops back so it's not really a pass in the corner... there were a lot of times we saw something potentially questionable, but didn't feel comfortable calling it in, or black-flagging.
"don't be afraid to black-flag someone doing something stupid" isn't good enough instruction, especially for people who haven't actually *been* on the track yet.
just my POV.

stoneman: welcome to the dark side. BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!

i'll sell you my SVS for 6500...

[moozgirl]

Well, I just had to get my two cents in...I had a great time at the track day and thanks to SRNE for working so hard to put it together and make it such a good day. A special thanks to Graham, who helped me work out some suspension problems early in the day and made the bike feel sooooo much better. I'm sure most of you guys know who I was...yellow F4i...sorry that I didn't get to meet a lot of you, but to those I did meet, it was a pleasure and I look forward to seeing you all again!

[Degsy]

I had a blast. Tires were a bit worn out so I had a few slides, but no crashes (runnign at 80%) capacity helps. I would have loved to have had my race bike out there, but it isn't ready from the endurance race yet.

Jay, sorry I couldn't help you out more, pressures of being video-guy.

Tony, thanks for putting on another great day. I had plenty of riding time, although you and your people really need to enforce the "no racing, no timing" rule.

I had to go to ground zero, NYC yesterday (long story) so I didn't get time to get the video's. I will be doing them tonight hopefully so they will be mailed out tomorrow. Mick, get me paul's email address.

degsy

[Degsy]

Did anyone see the suspicious looking guy in the white shirt in the turn 6 grandstand? I'm thinking a representative of the insurance industry.

derek

[Stoneman]

Bwaaaaa haaaaaaa haaaaaaa!!! 'NASCRAP'!!!

[GMS1000]

I was just reading your post, about your tires being worn. Just wondering how many trackdays my Rennsports (RS2=soft) should last? Is it a visible sign that they're worn or is it just feel(sliding)? Even though some people on this board (a certain corner worker in turn 2), don't believe most of the gixxer riders had much skill. , I thought I was goin pretty good. I must've been doin allright, seeing that I was in the blue group all day and the only person to pass me was Tony. It must have been the bike
Anyway, thanks for filming me.

by the way,
I don't wanna sound like a bitch, because someone didn't give me props. You telling me I was goin good was the best compliment I could have received.

Peace

[Degsy]

Gary, you were running race tires????? No wonder I couldn't keep up with you!!

I was running DOT street rennsports which have two Loudon trackdays and one VIR trackday on them and they are toast now. Basically, they will start to slide when they get worn. Yours were fine because you were able to power out of 12, 2 and 3 much better than I was. You also have tons of power on tap with that bike, but man are you smooth. No mid-corner corrections, a bit early on the brakes, but that will correct itself in time. I am sure you would be a top ten finisher in your first weekend if you were racing. We were running about 1:32's I think (guessing) and you could have run 1:25's easily as I could see you were holding back some of the time so I could catch up. 1:32's is pretty darn good for a street bike at a busy track day.

degsy

[PinHead]

For those of you that didn't have that great of a day at the track

I was in work all day, damn you all ! I am jellous.

[Degsy]

Tony, you can please everyone:

Just say "OK, track is open, do whatever you want"

Carnage will ensue and everyone will realise that the rules are there for a purpose and quit complaining. Simple!

degsy

[Stoneman]

Originally posted by GMS1000
Even though some people on this board (a certain corner worker in turn 2), don't believe most of the gixxer riders had much skill. , I thought I was goin pretty good.

There WERE a few exceptions to T's comment. Butchya gotta admit, there were more than a handful of Gixxer (all sizes) owner's that were out there that just proved to everyone that they were on too much bike for them...

[SilverSurfer]

Originally posted by moozgirl
Well, I just had to get my two cents in...I had a great time at the track day and thanks to SRNE for working so hard to put it together and make it such a good day. A special thanks to Graham, who helped me work out some suspension problems early in the day and made the bike feel sooooo much better. I'm sure most of you guys know who I was...yellow F4i...sorry that I didn't get to meet a lot of you, but to those I did meet, it was a pleasure and I look forward to seeing you all again!

moozgirl, you were pitted right in front us all day, I had no idea you were on this board. I was seated with Mick on the Triumph Tiger and his wife, James on the other silver Daytona 955i, John on the yellow Daytona T595, and Lee on the black and red T595.

Right behind us was Stoneman and his wife Cheryl, Degsy, rabid1, Gerard, and JC.

[SilverSurfer]

Originally posted by Rabid1
HEY. I stopped by there on the way home tonight and the dog didn't die, but he has a busted leg. The lady was much calmer this time...

Phew! Much better outcome than my last run in with a dog. Did you suggest that she might want to wash her favorite pet, perhaps ONCE this year???

[SilverSurfer]

Tony, I love the idea of another follow-the-leader session. Perhaps that would be a good lunch time activity? I know that the second viewing of Chris' lap was a big help after actually being out on the track, another FTL session would be helpful as well.
BTW, I sat out one session and came in early on the last session (strained my knee), and I logged 75 miles. I have no idea how many minutes, but I will say that I was EXHAUSTED at the end of the day.

Great time, Tony. Thanks!

[SilverSurfer]

Originally posted by JC
I can't believe I didn't see this before. I'll get you Sean! I'll get you, I swear!

BRING IT, BIATCH!!

hahahahahahaha

[twrayinma]

Originally posted by GMS1000
Even though some people on this board (a certain corner worker in turn 2), don't believe most of the gixxer riders had much skill. , I thought I was goin pretty good

a'ight, biyatch, bring it!
i must confess, during the blue-group runs, most of the riders weren't making big mistakes (shocking!) so when i wasn't doing "general cornerworking lookout" i was trying to check out the SVs on the track, and keep an eye out for the guys i've met...

i guess you could say that if you didn't stand out, you weren't fuckin' up.

'sides, all those I-4s look the same to me...

[twrayinma]

Originally posted by twrayinma
in general, the guys on gixxers were among the bottom of the pack, 5K1LLZ-wise

and at any rate, the "in general" covers my ass from any specific whiny riders.

[moozgirl]

Originally posted by SilverSurfer
moozgirl, you were pitted right in front us all day, I had no idea you were on this board. I was seated with Mick on the Triumph Tiger and his wife, James on the other silver Daytona 955i, John on the yellow Daytona T595, and Lee on the black and red T595.

Right behind us was Stoneman and his wife Cheryl, Degsy, rabid1, Gerard, and JC.

Well, I can put a face to the screen name now! Thanks for putting up with the Honda all day. Had fun riding with you guys, hopefully get to do it again!

[Stoneman]

To Tony & Degsy regarding instruction: No big deal, guys. You both had a lot of shit going on, and I was having way too much fun anyways. I got some help with the coupla turns I was having problems with, and really smoothed them out during the day. I don't know what it was though. I was getting on the gas WAY too late on the front straight and letting OFF way too early. I was carrying good speeds through 1, 1A & 2, just not getting it right coming outta 12 or timing the brake marker correctly at the end of the straight...

I CAN'T FEKKIN' WAIT TO TAKE THE PENGUIN SCHOOL!!!

The biggest help woulda been knowing the little 'indicators' to look for on the track....

[benVFR]

Wow I missed a hell of a soap opera didn't I.

Oh well... once this summer was a good start.

What is up with the dog? Did it get out onto the track? Or was it in the pit area?

Ben

[hawk]

Dam man don't ask about the dog.

Stoneman you better not go to Penguin with out me.